Anderson, the Magic power forward, received 260 points and 33 first-place votes while Ilyasova received 159 points and 21 first-place votes.

Nikola Pekovic of the Minnesota Timberwolves was third, Greg Monroe of the Detroit Pistons placed fourth and Andrew Bynum of the Los Angeles Lakers was fifth. New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, who burst onto the scene but had his season cut short by injury, was sixth in the voting of 121 sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the league.

Ilyasova averaged 13 points and a team-leading 8.8 rebounds while appearing in 60 games for the Bucks, including 41 starts. He shot 45.5% from three-point range to rank second in the league behind Knicks forward Steve Novak.

Ilyasova is an unrestricted free agent after spending the past three seasons with the Bucks. He also played one year for Milwaukee in a previous stint, after being selected by the Bucks in the second round of the 2005 draft. He played two years for Regal FC Barcelona in Spain's top league before signing a three-year deal with Milwaukee in the summer of 2009.

"Ersan had a great season," Bucks general manager John Hammond said Friday. "The one thing you know you're going to get out of Ersan is effort every single night. He can't help himself. He's going to play as hard as he can every single night.

"You can live with that. What he did this year, he just shot the ball so much better than he has in the past, especially from three. And he turned out to be a real stretch power forward. Those guys are so valuable to have on your team. That's what created some value for him around the league, too.

"It's not going to be easy for us to re-sign him. We know that. He did have a great year and we're happy for him. Hopefully he'll be right back with us."

No Bucks player has ever won the most improved player award, which was started in the 1985-'86 season. Bucks coach Scott Skiles won it in the 1990-'91 season as a member of the Orlando Magic, and current Bucks guard Monta Ellis won it as a member of the Golden State Warriors in the 2006-'07 season.

One side note: Novak, the former Marquette and Brown Deer High School star, received 12 points and one first-place vote. Former Bucks center Andrew Bogut, who played in only 12 games before fracturing his left ankle on Jan. 25, inexplicably received one first-place vote. The Bucks traded Bogut to Golden State and acquired Ellis and Ekpe Udoh in a March 14 trade.